“I’ve been real sick the last year and a half, and I didn’t have the money,” Taylor said.

She said she was seven months away from owning the restaurant free and clear and was determined to reach that milestone.

“I wasn’t about to let the IRS take it away from me,” she said. Sales taxes actually are collected by the Kansas Department of Revenue.

The past 18 months have been trying for her in more ways than one. In addition to an infection that has required seven surgeries in the past year to deal with, she lost a brother. Loren Goddard, who helped her at the café, died in July 2013.

“I think of him every day,” she said.

She has a bench outside the café and a display inside in Goddard’s memory. At Chingawassa Days, a friend helped her purchase a rhino statue at the chain saw art auction as another memorial to Goddard. Taylor plans to put a plaque on it when she can.

When Taylor’s health issues started, she sought assistance from the city and Marion Economic Development Inc. She said city official Roger Holter tried to help, but she eventually got a letter back saying she couldn’t get a loan without more paperwork.

“I was paperworked out,” Taylor said.

She has had more luck looking for financial assistance elsewhere.

“It’s pretty sad when you have to go out of town to get help,” she said.

Taylor said it was very hard dealing with long-term health problems as a small business owner, but she was surviving thanks to the invaluable help of her six employees and her customers.

“If it weren’t for the people of Marion, I probably wouldn’t even be open,” she said.